We packed our bags, loaded up the kid, the pup, and started our Montana Wyoming road trip early on Friday this past Labor Day weekend.

From Colorado, we drove through Wyoming, then visited Glacier National Park in Montana. On our way back, we drove through Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. And concluded the trip at home in Colorado.

Here is our 6-day road trip guide for your next Montana family vacations, including our suggestions for what to see in Montana, and in Wyoming. And where we stayed (mixed hotel and camping spots), and picture guide for each location.

On map above:

• A – Hotel for the night 1 – Townplace Suites Billings (Billings, Montana)
• B – Camp site for night 2 – Big Larch Campground in Montana
• C – Camp site for night 3 – Lost Johnny Point Campground in Montana
• D – Glacier National Park in Montana – Logan Pass
• E – Hotel for night 4 – SpringHill Suites By Marriot Island Park Yellowstone (Island Park, Idaho). Where my location was, at the time I took the screenshot of the route
• F – Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
• G – Home – Denver, Colorado

Our 6-day Montana and Wyoming road trip timeline from Colorado

There are so many ways to explore Montana, and Wyoming, specifically Glacier National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. This is one way that we did, starting from Denver, Colorado.

Day 1 – Driving 8.5h from Denver, CO to Billings, MT

We started driving from Denver, Colorado around noon on Friday.

We made it to Billings, Montana late evening. It’s about an 8.5h drive from Denver. We stayed at Townplace Suites Billings for the night.

Day 2 – Driving 5h and setting up camp near Seeley Lake, MT

We had breakfast at the hotel, and did some shopping in Billings in the morning. Then we started heading towards the north-western part of Montana.

If you decide to go camping in Montana (or anywhere), I recommend finding a campground and setting up camp in the afternoon as soon as the check-in time allows. This gives you plenty of time to set up, pay the fee, find firewood, and get all your camping gear situated. Ideally, you want to do all of this before the sun goes down and the temperature drops. We were in a little bit of a rush trying to find an available campsite, but luckily were able to get set up before there was no more sunlight.

Day 3 – Glacier National Park and camping in Hungry Horse, MT

We packed up in the morning, and headed back to Seeley Lake town for coffee and breakfast. It’s just a quick drive back into town and I needed before the big day, so it’s worth the detour! We started driving north again towards West Glacier National Park for the day.

Before hitting the actual Glacier National Park, we wanted to find a spot for camping and set up the tent first, so we could just come “home” to a nicely set up tent in the evening.

If you can find a camp site inside of Glacier National Park, some suggested campgrounds are Apgar Village and Two Medicine. However, we knew to not even try during the busy holiday weekend.

We decided to find something close by instead. So we ended up passing Hungry Horse Dam, and found our spot at Lost Johnny Point Campground.

Now that our “home” for the night is set up and situated, we headed for West Glacier National Park at around 430pm, perfect timing to hit all the scenic spots at sunset. The rest of the evening was spent in Glacier National Park, sight seeing and exploring the park.

Day 4 – Driving 6h from Hungry Horse, MT to Island Park, ID

We are now on the second half of our trip, but we have big plans to hit one more national park to visit before heading back home. And you guessed it, we’re heading south towards Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. But the hotel we booked was in Island Park, ID. So most of day 4 was spent driving to from Hungry Horse to the next hotel in Island Park, ID.

We stayed at Springhill Suites By Marriot. A hot shower at the hotel after 2 nights camping was in order. We had dinner at Cafe Sabor just across the river from the hotel and it was such a lovely evening.

Day 5 – Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Teton National Park

Today is the big day for visiting the national parks in Wyoming! Driving from Island Park, ID, we headed to West Yellowstone. We drove by West Thumb, and decided to stop to see the Old Faithful Geyser. We took our time driving through the park, snapped pictures, and stopped to see buffalos crossing the street.

After that, we drove into Grand Teton National Park. Here, not too many pictures were taken because the view was obstructed by smoke from the forest fires on the day we visited. I could somewhat make out the mountain views, but on camera, it doesn’t show.

After the Teton range, we visited Jackson Hole, WY for a quick lunch. My husband also wanted to stop at a spot just outside of the town to visit with a friend and go fishing.

Our last hotel on this trip was in Green River, Wyoming. We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Green River for the night.

Day 6 – Driving 5.5h home from Green River, WY to Denver, CO

The title says it all. We took some time on our last day to wake up, have breakfast at the hotel. And headed home.

We got to Denver at a decent hour in the afternoon. I still had time to unpack, do laundry and prepare to settle back into our usual routine.

And that concludes our 6-day road trip.

What to see in Montana – locations that you can get to by car

We were able to visit the below Montana vacation spots by car. We had limited amount of time spent here, so we drove through these places and stopped for pictures or very short sight-seeing hikes. If we have an opportunity to come back, there are tons of other fun activities for the whole family that we’d like to do. Maybe that’s for another trip (and another blog post) later.

These are some of the must see in Montana. We highly recommend if you visit to check out:

Lake Alva, Montana and other lakes along highway US-83

There are multiple lakes along highway US-83. I recommend checking out Seeley Lake, Lake Inez, and Lake Alva. These photos below were taken at Lake Alva.

If you have a state park pass, or would like to check out Salmon State Park for the day, that’s another beautiful option along this highway just right after the turn from Highway US-200.

Lake McDonald – Glacier National Park

Lake McDonald is inside Glacier National Park. It’s the first thing you will see after you enter the park via the West Entrance Station. The lake is huge, you can walk down to the shore, go for a stroll, and take in the breath taking views.

If you keep driving up the road a little, you will see many water falls, as well as cascades. We stopped at Sacred Dancing Cascade, for sure one of the popular spots. Pictures to follow below.

Going-to-the-Sun Rd

I highly recommend going through Glacier National Park via this scenic drive. The road is called Going-to-the-Sun Rd. This path takes you to the entrance of Glacier National Park, and to Lake McDonald. If you follow the road, you will also see some of the most beautiful mountain and valley views you’ve ever seen. There are many pull-outs on the sides of the road for you to park, come out and enjoy the views. Be sure to safely pull over, look both ways before crossing the road, and respect park rules and other park patrons.

Here are various photos along Going-to-the-Sun Rd in Glacier National Park (I changed outfits for blog outfit photoshoots, but this was all in one drive):

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Logan Pass – Glacier National Park

We made it to Logan Pass in Glacier National Park. Unfortunately we were reaching the end of the day by the time we made it here, so we turned around after this. The view here was spectacular. We wish we could have kept going further up into Glacier National Park. Maybe next time!

Some photos of Logan Pass:

What to see in western Wyoming on a road trip

Old Faithful Geyser – Yellowstone National Park

This is one of the most famous attractions known to Yellowstone National Park. Old Faithful is one geyser (of the nearly 500 geysers in Yellowstone) that erupts hot water from the ground into the air. The name Old Faithful is because it has not been common to be able to predict the eruption schedule of a geyser, but this one has lived up to its name.

When we were there, park rangers predicted the time of eruption time down to the minute, and we were able to catch a seat and watch the whole thing. It’s such a cool experience, and highly recommended.

Lewis Lake – Yellowstone National Park

Heading south on Highway US-191, passed Old Faithful Geyser you will see Lewis Lake and its river running alongside the road.

Our hotel and camping spots recommendations

We stayed a total of 5 nights on the trip, with a mix of hotels and camp spots located in various spots of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.

Night 1 – Townplace Suites Billings (Billings, Montana)

There are tons of hotels in Billings to pick from. Townplace Suites Billings is pet-friendly with a pet fee of $50 and there’s no pet weight restrictions. Their check out time is 12PM, amazing should we need to check out late. They also offer complimentary breakfast up till 10AM which is convenient when you’re on the road and need to get going quickly, so we went with this hotel.

Night 2 – Big Larch Campground (near Seeley Lake, Montana)

Big Larch Campground is about 5.5h driving from Billings, MT. Site fee was $20/night.

We actually weren’t sure where we were going to set up camp, we just know in the general direction, more north and more west from where we were of the state.

We asked a local what they’d suggest a good camping spot. Clearwater, Montana was the recommended spot. Once we got to Clearwater, we took US-83 North.

There are various camp grounds along the highway right after the turn. We were not able to find any vacancy due to busy Labor Day weekend here. But luckily Big Larch Campground further up the road, right after we passed Seeley Lake, had a few vacant camp sites.

This campground is close enough to the town, I had cell service while in my tent. It’s not a bad idea when you want to send friends and family beautiful pics of your trip. The campsite fee was $20 here (the fees may change, so this is meant to be a reference, not an exact number).

• Nearby suggestions for campgrounds: Salmon Lake State Park Campground
• Nearby suggestions for hotels: The Lodges on Seeley Lake, Double Arrow Lodge, and further distance but beautiful luxury resort The Resort at Paws Up

Night 3 – Lost Johnny Point Campground.

This campground Lost Johnny Point is only a 2h drive from Big Larch Campground. Site fee was $18 here.

From Highway US-2, take a turn onto West Side Road / NF-895. There are several campgrounds along this road. Lost Johnny Point Campground was ~20 minutes (10 miles) from the turn.

Photos of our camp setup at Lost Johnny Point:

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• Nearby suggestions for similar campgrounds: Doris Creek Campground, Lost Johnny Campground (to be different from Lost Johnny Point Campground where we stayed, they’re close by each other)
• Nearby suggestions for hotels: Silverwolf Log Chalets Resort (no pet), Under Canvas Glacier (Safari-style tents)

Night 4 – SpringHill Suites By Marriot Island Park Yellowstone (Island Park, Idaho)

This hotel is a 6.5h drive from our previous night’s campground. It is pet-friendly, and offers complimentary breakfast. They only offer suites here (no room), and the suites are so spacious with a nice size walk-in closet. Pet fee is $75 per pet, and check out time is 11AM.

Night 5 – Hampton Inn & Suites Green River (Green River, Wyoming)

The Hampton Inn & Suites Green River is a 5h drive from Island Park, and perfect mid-way point before home. Also pet friendly, with a pet fee of only $25. And it also offers complimentary breakfast.

I also suggest staying at Rock Springs, WY which is another town nearby. Some hotels great for travelers include Hampton Inn Rock Springs, and Holiday Inn Rock Springs.

And that is our Montana road trip guide, with a detour through Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. And by no means that I’m saying this is the only way (or the best way) for anyone to do Montana Wyoming road trips. I wanted to give you a reference guide on how we did it. But feel free to make as many changes as you need to suit your trip and family. If we (a family of four including a young child and a dog) could have this Montana Wyoming road trip, and had so much fun doing it, then anyone could do it! I encourage you to go out there and explore America, the beautiful. Hope I get to see you on your next trip, tag me on Instagram if you visit one of these spots I suggested!

Note: suggested time to visit is July-August. Actual time of visit was early September during Labor Day weekend.

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Other trips we took:

• Spring Break in Colorado with the Ritz-Carlton hotels
• Colorado, Utah, and Arizona 5-day road trip in the winter
• New Mexico and Taos family trip with Toyota Tacoma

life style road trip summer travel travel guide